The old man of hockey has called it a day. Veteran defenseman Chris Chelios has apparently decided to hang up his skates and join the Detroit Red Wings front office. According to a report on Fox Sports Detroit, the 48-year-old revealed his plans after singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during a Chicago Cubs home game. The station also quotes Red Wings general manager Ken Holland as confirming the move, but without a specific role.

Chelios played in a record-tying 26th NHL season last year, a brief seven-game stint with the Atlanta Thrashers where he failed to record a point. He tied Gordie Howe’s original mark, first set when he played from 1945-71 and 1979-80. Since breaking into the league with Montreal after the 1984 Winter Olympics, the Chicago native compiled 185 goals and 948 points over 1,651 regular-season games with the Canadiens, Blackhawks, Red Wings and Thrashers.

In addition, the often-punishing blueliner recorded 31 goals and 144 points in 266 playoff contests. He was part of three Stanley Cup-winning clubs, the 1986 Canadiens and the Red Wings in 2002 and 2008. Chelios played for the Wings from the tail end of the 1998-99 campaign through 2009.

He was very active in charitable causes during his playing days in Chicago, founding Cheli’s Children.

The NHL announced their decision to hold the a second heritage classic, next outdoor game in Canada — Feb. 20, 2011 at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium — stemming from the fact hockey fans from coast to coast spent seven years asking for it.

The league has done a masterful job of turning New Year’s Day south of the boarder into Hockey Day in America by holding Winter Classic games in Buffalo (2008 ), Chicago (2009) and Boston (2010). This season’s installment will be in Pittsburgh, when Sidney Crosby and the Penguins play host to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The first recent outdoor game — the Heritage Classic — took place at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium between the Oilers and Habs during the 2003-04 season.

The Flames will dig deep into the city’s roots for the game. They’ll be wearing sweaters honouring the Calgary Tigers, the city’s first professional hockey team, when they take to the outdoor ice. The Tigers, who existed from 1920 through 1927 and then 1932 through 1936, faced the Canadiens for the Stanley Cup in 1924. Calgary lost both games against Montreal, 6-1 and 3-0. The Flames won’t wear replica sweaters of the Tigers, rather jerseys in their colours — deep red and gold — with the Flaming C in front.

Here’s a video of hockey star Darcy Tucker’s residence – the one he moved to when he got traded from Toronto to Colorado.

Veteran defenceman Darryl Sydor has retired from playing as a professional hockey player after 18 years spent in the NHL. Sydor, 38, played in only 47 games for the St.Louis Blues last season, posting eight assists.

Sydor played in 1,291 NHL games with Los Angeles, Columbus, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and St. Louis, recording 98 goals and 409 assists. His 1,291 games played currently ranks him 16th all-time among NHL defenseman.

The 6-foot-1, 211-pounder won Stanley Cups with Dallas in 1999 and Tampa Bay five years later. The Edmonton native spent most of his career in Dallas, playing nine seasons for the Stars.

Sydor, who was originally drafted by the Kings with the seventh overall pick in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, appeared in 155 playoff games, accumulating nine goals and 47 assists. As a junior player he won a Memorial Cup with the Kamloops Blazers and also represented Canada at the World Junior Championships.

The announcement was made on the 13th of July and he report is that he has currently signed on as an assistant coach with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.

• The Ottawa Senators sign defenceman Sergie Gonchar to three-year, US$16-million deal on Thursday, just minutes after the start of free-agent season. The addition of Gonchar, who’s been named to four all-star games and won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 during his 15-year NHL career, gives the Senators a different look on the back end.
• The Calgary Flames signed two former players who they had previously traded away; Flames signes forward Alex Tanguay to a one-year contract; signed forward Olli Jokinen to a two-year contract.
• The Vancouver Canucks signed forward Manny Malhotra to a three-year contract; signed forward Joel Perrault; signed forward Jeff Tambellini; signed defenseman Dan Hamhuis to a six-year contract.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs signed forward Colby Armstrong to a 3 year contract to add to the trade of forwards Kris Versteeg and Bill Sweatt from Chicago in exchange for forwards Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis.
• The Montreal Canadiens acquired forward Dustin Boyd and future considerations from the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Sergei Kostitsyn and future considerations and also signed goalie Alex Auld.
• The  Chicago Blackhawks traded forward Andrew Ladd to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday in exchange for defenceman Ivan Vishnevskiy and a second-round pick in 2011., a day after dealing forward Kris Versteeg to Toronto. Last week, Chicago sent playoff star Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel and Ben Eager to Atlanta and shipped Colin Fraser to Edmonton.
• The Dallas Stars have signed goalie Andrew Raycroft on a 2 year contract
• The Phoenix Coyotes added scoring depth Thursday, signing veteran 38 year old winger Ray Whitney to a two-year deal.

I am about 30 hours or so late but here are the 1st, 2nd & 3rd picks from the 2010 NHL entry draft held on Friday night held in Los Angeles. The Edmonton Oilers, who will be in the midst of rebuilding after a couple of terrible seasons and finishing last in the league standings this past season, selected Taylor Hall (in the middle) first overall. The announcement ended weeks of speculation as to who would the Oilers pick – Hall or Tyler Seguin. There seemed to be very little to choose between the two youngsters but Seguin was ranked higher that Hall.

The 18-year old Hall enjoyed a spectacular year, scoring 40 goals and adding 66 assists in 57 regular season games with the Spitfires.  He was also a key component of Windsor’s back-to-back Memorial Cup titles as he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive year.  He also found time in his busy schedule to help Canada capture the silver medal at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.

The Boston Bruins gladly picked Seguin at # 2 (on the right wearing a Bruins jersey) a pretty solid consolation prize as they were able to select the Plymouth Whalers playmaker second overall after receiving the pick as part of a package from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Phil Kessel. After consumating a trade earlier in the night with the Vancouver Canucks that saw the Florida Panthers shift Keith Ballard to the West Coast, new Panthers’ GM Dale Tallon remained busy as he announced the selection of Kingston Frontenacs defenceman Erik Gudbranson (on the left) with the third overall pick. A behemoth on the blueline, Gudbranson is a stay at home defenceman who should be able to inject some size and strength into the Cats’ defence corps.

San Jose Sharks defenceman Rob Blake announced his retirement on Friday after 20 NHL seasons. The 40-year-old notched seven goals and 30 points with a plus-14 rating and 60 penalty minutes in 70 regular-season games last season for San Jose, his second with the club. He added a goal and two points in 15 playoff tilts as the Sharks were swept in the Western finals by Chicago.

Since breaking into the NHL during the 1989-90 season with Los Angeles, Blake has compiled 240 goals, 777 points and 1,679 minutes in penalties over 1,270 career game. The Canadian from Simcoe, Ontario was the recipient of the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenceman in 1998 while playing for the Kings and won a Stanley Cup in 2001 as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Blake is just one of 24 players who can claim to have won a World Championship (1994 and ’97), Olympic gold medal (2002) and Stanley Cup (2001). An All-Rookie Team choice in 1991, Blake also made seven All-Star Game appearances. He was also a Norris Trophy finalist in 2000 and 2002, and was selected as a First-Team NHL All-Star in 1998 with three Second-Team selections. Internationally, Blake has played for Team Canada in three consecutive Winter Olympics in 1998, 2002 and 2006, winning gold in 2002.

After four seasons with Colorado, the Avalanche chose not to pick up his contract option for the 2006–07 season, making him a free agent. He re-signed with his former team, the Kings, for two years at $6 million per year on July 1, 2006. After 2 more seasons with LA and a stint as captain, he joined the San Jose Sharks on a 1 year $5mil contract in July of 2008. After that season he re-signed for another year at $3.5 million to avoid free agency. Blake would be named captain of the Sharks approximately six weeks after previous captain Patrick Marleau was stripped of the role by Sharks management.

A few years after rebuilding and drafting/hiring talented youngsters, the Chicago Blackhawks have ended a  49 year old drought and won the 2009-10 Stanley Cup playoffs after beating Philadelphia 4-3 in OT. Captain Johnathan Toews (pictured here on the left) won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs. Winger Marian Hossa ended a personal drought – he played on two different losing teams of the past two Stanley Cup finals; as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.

It ended in a bizarre sequence that saw Chicago’s Patrick Kane end the game at 4:50 of the first overtime on a goal almost no one saw go in the net. Kane’s shot from along the goal line slipped under the glove of crouching Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton and just inside the post. There was confusion as the play continued, the players looking for the puck, until realizing it was in the net. In the end, the ’Hawks simply had too much for the Flyers, who made history with their comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the second round against the Boston Bruins, but couldn’t find a way to cope with the ’Hawks deep forward group. Chicago won despite not getting a goal in the final from captain Toews.

The win gave Scotty Bowman, the ’Hawks senior advisor of hockey operations, the 12th Stanley Cup of his career – nine as a coach (with the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings and three in front office positions (with the Penguins, Wings and now the ’Hawks). This is first final to be won on OT since New Jersey beat Dallas in double OT. Patrick Kane, who had the winning goal, added two assists, while Dustin Byfuglien, Patrick Sharp and Andrew Ladd also tallied for Chicago. Scott Hartnell had two goals and Daniel Briere had a goal for Philly.

So that’s it. The Ottawa Senators blow a 3 goal lead in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the defending champs the Pittsburgh Penguins and lose the series 2-4. The Sens go home and no doubt a few of them will probably still play some more hockey for the World Championships. And some of them will want to put the disappointment behind them and go to their summer homes and play golf or do other stuff.

Most of them will want to play more hockey and try and get over the bitter taste of loss and see if they can win gold with their national team. Ofcourse it’s not the same as winning the most difficult trophy there is to win in all of team sports. So there’s more playoff action in the weeks to come. With the exit of the Senators, I’m going to put all of my support behind the Vancouver Canucks. This looks like as good a year as any for the West Coast team.

Go Luongo!

After the first game in Pittsburgh which the Ottawa Senators won, the Penguins have stepped up and won the next two, putting the pressure squarely back on the collective shoulders of Alfredsson & co. The second game in Pittsburgh was won with a 2-1 victory. Then last night with the series shifting to the Senators’ home stadium, Scotiabank Place, the Pens upped their game to win 4-2.

With Evgeny Malkin & Sidney Crosby performing the way that they are, the Senators better have a different approach if they want to battle the series out and win it. Home crowd should help the side get a victory in game 4 and then if they can do that, then it’s anybody’s series. And we need more goals from Spezza, Fisher & Alfredsson. All I can say is GO SENS GO!

In the second period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoff series, the blade of Anze Kopitar’s stick somehow managed to get wedged under the visor of Henrik Sedin. The call was not made as the ref felt that Kopitar was very gentle and did not intend to poke Sedin. Take a look.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Quaterfinals. Ottawa Senators 5 Pittsburgh Penguins 4.

Led by an unlikely group of heroes, the Ottawa Senators delivered a shocking blow to the defending-champion Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena Wednesday night.

The line of Chris Kelly, Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu each scored a goal, combining for six points, while Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin had goals in their playoff debuts to give the Senators a 5-4 victory over Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in Game 1. Ottawa goalie Brian Elliott pick up his first post-season victory. He only had to make 17 saves, but it wasn’t easy.

Game 2 is on Friday.

Here’s the first round pairings with my prediction of winners given in brackets

EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS

On the 30th of March, The Senators went to Washington to face the Conference leading Capitals. In the clash of the two nations capital city’s teams, the Sens were victorious. The Senators, looking to be in top form for the postseason, won their fifth in a row Tuesday night, blowing an early lead before rallying to beat the Capitals 5-4 in overtime. Jason Spezza with two goals led the attack followed by goals by Peter Regin, Alexei Kovalev & Chris Campoli.

Two days later on the 1st of April, it was back home in Ottawa where they hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens needed a shootout to gain victory 4-3. Erik Karlsson had two goals, while Alexander Volchenkov also scored one. Kovalev had the shootout goal win.

The New York Islanders derailed the Ottawa train and stopped them from getting their 7th win in a row. At the Islanders home ice, Martin Biron had 28 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Matt Cullen’s close-range goal late in the third ended Biron’s bid for his 27th career shutout.

And last night, on Daniel Alfredsson’s 1000th NHL game, Mike Fisher scored twice to help Ottawa beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 Tuesday night for their seventh win in eight games. Jarkko Ruutu, Karlsson and Chris Neil also got goals for Ottawa. Pascal Leclaire made 32 saves on a rare start for him.

The Ottawa Senators have finally picked up their game and after the worst losing skid for the season, they now have 4 wins in a row.

It started on the 22nd with a 2-0 victory away at the Bell Center over the Montreal Canadiens. Brian Elliott made 29 saves for his fourth shutout and fifth of his career, Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and Ottawa ended a five-game losing streak. Peter Regin scored his first goal in 10 games midway through the first and Daniel Alfredsson assisted on both goals.

Two days later again riding a huge goaltending effort from Elliot, the Sens were able to knock off an Eastern Conference playoff contender for a second night in a row. Elliott earned his second shutout in two days and Chris Kelly and Daniel Alfredsson scored to lead Ottawa to a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. Elliott stopped 26 shots – including a spectacular glove save on James van Riemsdyk with 3:55 remaining – for his fifth shutout of the season.

Friday the 26th saw the Sens visit Buffalo and get a 4-2 win over the Sabres. Jason Spezza, Alfredsson, and Kelly had a goal and assist each, Elliott made 41 saves as the short-handed Senators beat the Sabres for the ninth straight time. Regin also scored. Then last night the Senators captain scored his 20th goal of the season early in the third period and the Ottawa won its fourth straight, 3-2 over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Elliott made 20 saves, and Matt Cullen and Regin also scored for the Senators. Rookie defenceman Karlsson had three assists.

What has happened to the Ottawa Senators? They have fallen apart so badly post the Winter Olympic break that they are no languishing. With just 12 games left in the regular season, the Senators’ post-Olympic troubles hit a new low Tuesday night with an ugly 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of 20,405 spectators at Scotiabank Place.

Ottawa’s record in its last seven games is now 1-5-1. That one win was against the league’s bottom team – The Edmonton Oilers. Nobody is sure what happened to the Senators team that reeled off 11 straight victories. Scoring is certainly an issue — the team has just nine goals in its last seven games. Goaltending is another source of concern. Brian Elliot seems to have established himself as the coach’s guy but he just isn’t top goalie material for a team that wants to win the Stanley Cup. Pascal Leclaire has failed to live up his his previous lofty expectations.

The Ottawa Senators have acquired defenceman Andy Sutton from the New York Islanders in exchange for a second round draft pick. GM Bryan Murray wanted to get a deal done Tuesday in advance of Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline and had been saying he would look for a defenceman to provide depth along the blue line.

In 567 career NHL games with the San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers and the Islanders, Sutton has scored 34 goals, added 101 assists and 984 penalty minutes. On another front, Murray said barring an unforeseen turn of events, Volchenkov will still be a Senator after the deadline.

In other trades Edmonton traded Nashville’s second round pick for defenceman Denis Grebeshkov, who’s minus-16 with 19 points. The Anaheim Ducks traded defenceman Nick Boynton to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday for future considerations & Pittsburgh Penguins, who picked up defenceman Jordan Leopold from the Florida Panthers on Monday for a second-round pick.